Cannabis & Pain (General, Chronic, Neuropathic, and others)

Pain (General)

Key Findings: “This article will attempt to present information concerning cannabinoid mechanisms of analgesia, review randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of available and emerging cannabinoid agents, and address the many thorny issues that have arisen with clinical usage of herbal cannabis itself (“medical marijuana”). An effort will be made to place the issues in context and suggest rational approaches that may mitigate concerns and indicate how standardized pharmaceutical cannabinoids may offer a welcome addition to the pharmacotherapeutic armamentarium in chronic pain treatment.” … "Cannabinoids may offer significant “side benefits” beyond analgesia. These include anti-emetic effects, well established with THC, but additionally demonstrated for CBD (Pertwee 2005), the ability of THC and CBD to produce apoptosis in malignant cells and inhibit cancer-induced angiogenesis (Kogan 2005; Ligresti et al 2006), as well as the neuroprotective antioxidant properties of the two substances (Hampson et al 1998), and improvements in symptomatic insomnia (Russo et al 2007)... Given their multi-modality effects upon various nociceptive pathways, their adjunctive side benefits, the efficacy and safety profiles to date of specific preparations in advanced clinical trials, and the complementary mechanisms and advantages of their combination with opioid therapy, the future for cannabinoid therapeutics appears very bright, indeed.”

Chronic Pain

Key Findings: “The clinically and statistically significant evidence of an association between MCP enrollment and opioid prescription cessation and reductions and improved quality of life warrants further investigations on cannabis as a potential alternative to prescription opioids for treating chronic pain.”

Key Findings: “Cannabidiol does not exacerbate adverse effects associated with intravenous fentanyl administration. Coadministration of CBD and opioids was safe and well tolerated. These data provide the foundation for future studies examining CBD as a potential treatment for opioid abuse.”

Neuropathic Pain

Key Findings: “There is reasonable evidence that cannabinoids improve nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy. They might improve spasticity (primarily in multiple sclerosis). There is some uncertainty about whether cannabinoids improve pain, but if they do, it is neuropathic pain and the benefit is likely small.”

Key Findings: “Using an 11-point numerical pain intensity rating scale as the primary outcome, a mixed effects linear regression model demonstrated a significant analgesic response for vaporized cannabis. When subjective and psychoactive side effects (e.g., good drug effect, feeling high, etc.) were added as covariates to the model, the reduction in pain intensity remained significant above and beyond any effect of these measures.”

Key Findings: "Vaporized cannabis, even at low doses, may present an effective option for patients with treatment-resistant neuropathic pain. Cannabis has analgesic efficacy with the low dose being, for all intents and purposes, as effective a pain reliever as the medium dose."